Adapter



Jan. 14, 1941.

E. F. WEGE'NER 2,228,861

ADAPTER Filed Aug. 20, 1936 INVENTOR Patented Jan. 14, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

.5 is distributed commercially.

It has been common practice, for many years now to apply paint and lacquers by spraying or atomizing the same with a stream of compressed air and blowing the spray against the surface which is to be coated. Sprayers of this type have been used in very large numbers and have become standardized in design having usually a pistol grip with a trigger control for the air pressure and a suction pipe depending from the sprayer beneath the handle and the nozzle extending into a specially designed cup for holding the paint. These cups are generally made of aluminum and are relatively expensive. Furthermore each time the sprayer is used the cups must be emptied back into the can from which the paint has been taken and the cup thoroughly cleaned. These operations waste amounts of paint and cleaning materials which individually are small but become important in the aggregate, and furthermore are time consuming and represent, therefore, a substantial expense in the painting industry.

It is an object of my invention to eliminate the use of these special cups and to simplify the procedure of using Sprayers.

Accordingly, my invention contemplates the use of adapters on the sprayer by which the standard distribution can in which the paint is supplied commercially may be connected to and carried by the sprayer and the paint sprayed directly from such can.

In this way I have effected a great saving in the industry the possibility of which has hereto-- fore been unrecognized.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown several preferred embodiments of my invention and certain modifications thereof. These I have chosen with a view to explaining the invention and the principle thereof, as well as the best manner of embodying the same. The particular embodiments shown and described below are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the invention, but on the contrary this specification and the accompanying drawing are intended, to assist others in modifying and adapting the invention to suit the particular requirements of each case and it is to be expected therefore that the invention will be embodied in many different forms.

In the drawing:

Fig. .1 is a view in side elevation, partly broken away, of a paint spray embodying my invention, and

'Fig. 2 is a fragmentary View in side elevation and partially broken away to show a portion in section, of a modified form of my invention.

Referring first to Fig. 1, I have shown therein a sprayer head or spray gun ID of usual type. This consists broadly of a handle ll (shown partially broken away), which is of the common pistol grip type, and having a passage therethrough for compressed air from a suitable air hose, (not shown). This passage is, controlled by the valve l2 operated by the trigger I3 which also operates, through the linkl4, a plunger l5 which controls the nozzle opening. The suction tube through which the paint is drawn is connected to the sprayer head at l6, and on this connection is mounted also the head I! of the paint container. This head is divided with the arm I8 adapted to engage studs I9 on the paint container and is provided with a tightening screw or cam controlled by the thumb lever 20.

Thus far the construction is conventional and requires no change according to my invention. According to my invention, however, instead of the usual aluminum cup depending from the head I! and provided with the studs I9, I provide asecond head or adapter 2! which in the present case is an annular member having a. central opening 22 through which it is connected with the sprayer'head and a surrounding portion 23 which is provided with a gasket 24 of cork or leather or other soft material which readily makes a tight joint between this portion 23 and a can to prevent slopping of the paint through this connection. A skirt 26 depending from the annular portion 23 serves to hold the can laterally positioned with respect to the adapter, and depending fingers 21 serve to hold the can longitudinally pressed against the gasket 24.

The suction or feed tube extends from the connection i6 through the head I! and through the opening 22 to the bottom of the cam and is, of course, preferably bent toward the corner of the can at one side so that by tilting the can the last remaining portion of the paint can be utilized.

In the preferred form of my invention shown in Fig. 1 the depending fingers 2'! are made of spring wire, each finger consisting of a loop having its ends riveted to the skirt 26, e. g., as shown at 28. The opposite ends of the loop are bent together to form a double wire which is coiled inwardly as shown at 29 forming rounded projections, the rounded inner sides of which cam against the bottom of the can to spring them downward and thereby stress the fingers so that they press the can up against the gasket 24 and the member 23. Since these cans are commonly made with a downwardly directed annular flange, as most clearly shown in Fig. 9, the coiled projection 29 serves also to lock the fingers in the engaged position, as shown in Fig. 1, because this annular fiange at the edge of the cam passes over the crest of the curve and is engaged between the crest of the coil 29 and the adjacent straight portions of the finger 21.

If the adapter is designed for cans of substantially uniform dimensions, the coil 29 may provide sufiicient resilient yield to the fingers 21 to give the necessary pressure against the gasket 24 and the member 23. Since, however, these adapters are ordinarily used on cans provided by dilferent paint manufacturers or even cans of the same paint manufacturers made by different can manufacturers it is ordinarily desirable to have a provision for accommodating substantial differences in the lengths of the cans. This I have provided in the present case by means of the coils 30, which are wound flat against the side of the can. The wire in these coils obviously is capable of substantial flexing and the fingers formed as shown, therefore, are capable of extension to accommodate cans of substantially different lengths,

The skirt 26 is also made large enough to accommodate the variations among standard cans of the same capacity,

In the use of this device the adapter 2| is secured to the head I! in exactly the same way as the standard cup would have been secured. Thereafter, any can of approximately suitable size can be connected to the sprayer merely by spreading the fingers 21 over the outside of the can, pushing the can up against the gasket 24 and finally snapping the coiled end 29 under the bottom of the can.

In Fig. 2, I have shown another adapter similar except for the fingers 21a which in this case are made of spring strips instead of spring wire. This adapter is intended particularly for cans of substantially the same size and, therefore, has only the bottom coil projection 29a to provide the resilient yield by which the can 25 is pressed against the gasket 24 and the member 23.

It will be understood that the form of my invention which I have shown in the drawing and have discussed herein is only illustrative and that many changes may be made according to the conditions which the adapter is required to meet. Furthermore, although the invention has been particularly described for paint sprays it is applicable for other kinds of sprayers. Especially important, for example, is the garden insecticide and fungicide sprayers. Ready mixed sprays can be kept in sealed cans and easily used with a single sprayer as they are needed.

I claim:

1. A painting device of the type having a spray gun, a commercial shipping package paint can having a bead extending from the bottom of the can, and an adapter member for connecting the paint can with the spray gun, including means adapted to cover the top of the paint can with an opening communicating with the spray gun, a ring attached to said means adapted to engage the upper end of the paint can, and hold it positioned laterally with respect to said means, and means for clamping the paint can to the adapter which is characterized by resilient fingers having inwardly turned coiled ends adapted to engage the said bead on the can, said fingers being stressed when the inwardly turned coiled ends are engaged under said bead, whereby to urge the can against the covering means.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 in which the fingers are resilient fingers coiled inwardly at their ends whereby to provide projections adapted to engage under the bottom of the can and to be stressed by the cam action of the can against the curved side of the coil, whereby they press the can against the member from which they depend.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 in which the fingers consist of loops of resilient wire secured to and depending from the adapter member,

having their opposite ends coiled inwardly to form rounded projections adapted to engage the can and to be stressed downwardly by the cam action of the can on their rounded sides, and the sides of said loops including coils adapted to lie against the side of the can whereby to allow resilient extension of the length of said fingers beyond the yielding capacity of the inwardly turned bottom coils.

EDWARD F. WEGENER. 

